Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Goodbye Florida, Hello Texas. (Part 1)

What an interesting cross-country road trip.  I'm so glad it's over and we are finally here in San Antonio, Texas! The last two weeks were kinda rough for me. I said goodbye to our home of seven years. Besides Honduras that is the longest I have ever lived in one place. I can't honestly say that I enjoyed living in the Tampa Bay Area. However, I had formed a life there. Started a career. Brought my baby into the world there. This house is where I found out I was pregnant. Where Sticks took her first steps and said her first words. It was our home. It was familiar. By no means our dream home, but it was ours!

We started our sojourn around 2:00PM. I know that's late but we had promised a friend's daughter that we would not leave until school was let out so she could say goodbye. IT was an emotional farewell for me. I had come to truly love this family. Mrs. G and I had become close friends. It had been so long since I had enjoyed a true friendship. The Gs would do anything for you. They are wonderful, God-fearing people. They impacted my life for the better. There were many night's when Hubs was gone that Sticks and I would spend the night at their house. Oh boy, do I appreciate them!!

After saying our farewells, we started our eighteen hour drive. We had decided prior that we would take our time and take two-three days if needed.  We had planned to make two stops along the way. The first would be the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainseville, Florida and the second would be to have lunch at Lambert's Cafe in Foley, Alabama. 

I absolutely adore butterflies. They are one of my favorite creations. God has the best imagination to create thousands of different types! Eric took me for our seven year anniversary back in January 2012. I was eight months pregnant. You can read all about it here The Next day: The Gainesville Getaway. I just had to share their splendor with my daughter. She had a great time. She "oohed" and "awed" as they fluttered around her head. 




We got there ten minutes before they closed the exhibit for the day. We almost didn't get in, but we told them we were on our way out of Florida & this may be the only time Sticks would get to see the butterflies. So for the second time they let us in for free! Everything is better when its free! Don't you think? Oh wait! It did cost us five quarters. The meter would only allow us fifteen minutes (one quarter), because the museum was closing. However, it took me four more quarters to figure that out! 

The visit was short - about five minutes. Plenty of time. We got back on the road and began making as much headway as possible. We made a wrong turn and ended up near Valdosta, Georgia before we realized it. Thirty minutes later we were back on track. 
Look at those beautiful eyes! Sticks does really well holding the food pouches without squeezing them and making a mess. She is only thirteen months so she still makes messes sometimes. She also really enjoys eating the creamies. (I really like them because they are dairy free)



Sunday, April 14, 2013

The Great Church Hunt

Here we go. The great church hunt has begun. We had a wonderful home church in Riverview Florida! First Baptist Church of Riverview was a great church to call home. We were very happy with the nursery & the other ministries. I wouldn't say that finding a new church is hard but it can be taxing. New church every week. Sometimes you are able to attend the same church twice. That's always nice.

Our criteria for a new home church is as follows:
• The teaching must be biblical!
• Methodology can be less conservative (meaning that not every song needs to be a hymn, but we don't want to be at a rock concert either)
• Good Children's ministry. I want to feel comfortable dropping off Elora Danan in the care of basically strangers!

San Antonio is a huge city. There will be a plethora of churches to choose from. I hope it doesn't take months to find a church home.